SXSW 2018 Mini-cast #2: March 11, 2018; Can We Create Consciousness In A Machine?

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”–Albert Einstein

For anyone who has watched the HBO series Westworld, the questions about creating machine consciousness run much deeper than “can we.” These include, should we? How will we treat it? How will it feel about its station as artificial life? Will we be able to control it, and is that ethical? And most profoundly, how will that change what it means to be human? The questions go beyond ethical to existential, and they were all addressed in the SXSW Intelligent Future track in a panel titled Can We Create Consciousness In A Machine? Not surprisingly, there were two techno-philosophers on the panel to explore these issues. They are David Chalmers, with NYU’s Center for Brain an Mind Consciousness, and Susan Schneider, with the Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of Connecticut.

In this Seeking Delphi™ minicast, I speak with both of them about some of these issues. The third panelist mentioned in the podcast is Allen Institute physicist, Kristoff Koch.

The experts on the panel agreed…classical digital computers can’t create consciousness. Neural networks? Neuromorphic chips? And what about quantum computing? My interview with whurley on quantum computing, immediately following his SXSW keynote on the subject, is below.

SXSW minicast #3: whurley on quantum computing

In case you missed it, the YouTube slide show link for SXSW 2018 minicast #1, on covering sessions on quantum computing and self-driving car safety, is below.

Human consciousness is a system of sensing our environment. It’s about feeling our environment which is all energy. Our consciousness system is a result of our nerve endings that inform us of hot, cold and warm as the foundation. Every other “feeling” we experience is a subsystem of hot, cold and warm.

That’s why I asked Susan Schneider about the visceral experience as being part of consciousness. As for your last statement, I take issue with that every time I see a diseased or malnourished child. (Among other things)